Why Do You Hate The Sound Of Chewing, Nail Clipping Or Pen Clicking?

Does the sound of someone chewing, or the sound of nail clipping drive you nuts? You might just be dealing with misophonia – a rarely diagnosed disorder.

Misophonia, which means “hatred of sound,” is a rare chronic condition with which certain sounds provokes someone’s intense emotional experience. The term, misophonia, was first coined by neuroscientists Pawel Jastreboff and Margaret Jastreboff of Emory University in 2002.

Sometimes referred to as selective sound sensitivity syndrome, the most common irritants as identified in a 2013 study include eating sounds such as lip smacking and swallowing; the sound of breathing and the sound of typing and pen clicking.